Fortified over the years, the German defence system relied on multiple machine-gun teams defending the front in protected concrete pillboxes. There was no easy way to destroy a pillbox, especially as the Germans often had two or three of these concrete bunkers and their garrisons supporting each other.

A German Pillbox After an Attack
Painted by William Topham between 1916 and 1918
Beaverbrook Collection of War Art
Canadian War Museum
19710261-0749

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